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17 May 2008

Final Few Days of Family & Friends

We enjoyed another visit to Lyme Regis with Grandma & Grandad on Thursday, playing in the sand, Noah did the cutest sandy dance on the breakwater, and then we sampled fish n chips from a fantastic local fish bar. We happened to be there on the day a major landslide had come down along the coast and every man and his dog was out to see it, including the fossil hunters who were getting so close to the landslide that it was apparent they were trying their luck at discovering treasures unearthed in the debris. Lyme Regis is on the Jurassic coast so they would have been feeling fairly optimistic about their chances, although we all agreed it was total madness since the landslide continued to send down more debris at regular intervals over the day.

The last few days in England passed in a bit of a blur of catching up with so many different people. James, Ann-Marie and Jack were back to stay for our last weekend, and on the Saturday we enjoyed catching up with a few of Mark's university friends who all made a lovely effort to come from far and wide to visit us for the afternoon. Then we were out to dinner at a local pub with a group of our Somerset friends that night.

Sunday morning we took a family walk up St. Michael's Mount to see if the dragon was in residence in the tower. We didn't find the dragon, he must have slipped out just before we got there, but he knew he had been there as he left Noah and Jack a chocolate teacake each. He had obviously been shopping at Marks and Spencers!

Then we enjoyed a family BBQ lunch in the garden, Mark & Mary-Ann came to visit for the afternoon as well as Mark's lovely parents Ann & Chris, then Jon & Sarah came with the kids for an hour or so too. We were so lucky with the weather over the weekend, it was stunning. Sunday was so balmy that it hit 26 degrees - a perfect end to a magical trip.

As it has been on other occasions, saying goodbye to everyone was very heart-wrenching as we don't know when we will next be able to return. It was lightened a little by the knowledge that Grandma & Grandad have already booked a trip to come and see us for six weeks next summer, and there is a good chance we may also have a visit from James, Ann-Marie and Jack in 2010.

We have so many special memories of the past four weeks that we will be able to live on these for many, many months to come. Noah learnt so many new words whilst we were away and the clarity of his vocab improved enormously. We also thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him as an individual, it was the longest and most concentrated time we have spent together the three of us as a family unit since he was born.

But above all, the most wonderful thing for us as parents was being able to share Noah with our extended family for the first time. Seeing him fall so completely in love with them all is our most treasured memory and our greatest joy.